Explaining the impeachment process through history

Shelby Barker - Sophomore | News

The Impeachment process has been quite rare in America’s vast history and the few to have faced such a process (Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton, and Donald Trump) haven't been removed from office. To go through the impeachment process, a president or other government official must have committed treason, bribery, or other high crimes such as murder.

The House of Representatives will then try to pass an article of impeachment which holds the accusations against the president. If the article passes, the Senate will hold a trial that will decide if the president will be removed from office.

The first president to be selected for impeachment was Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln after his death in 1865. Johnson clashed with Congress due to his constant vetoing of bills that he thought would be too harsh on the south. Later in his term, Johnson removed Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, causing Congress to create the 11 articles of impeachment.

Congress determined that Johnson broke the Tenure of Office Act and was set up for his impeachment. Although Congress passed his impeachment, Johnson stayed in office because the senate was one vote short of removing him from office.

Bill Clinton was the second president to be impeached. Like President Johnson, Clinton wasn't favored by the Congress in any way. Later in his term it came to surface that Clinton had an affair with former white house intern Monica Lewinsky in January 1998.

At first, Clinton denied the allegations, but investigators soon found the affair to be true and Clinton was sentenced to be impeached due to lying to the investigators about his relationship with Lewinsky and obstructing justice by bribing White House staff. Although the impeachment passed through the House, the Senate decided that such allegations were not enough for him to be removed from office.

The most recent president to be impeached is our current president, Donald Trump. Trump is the first-ever president to be impeached for a second time. On Jan. 13, Trump was charged with incitement of an insurrection by the House Of The Representatives for his supposed role in stirring a mob of his supporters to storm the capital.

The House ultimately voted to impeach Trump from office for not taking action against the insurrection. However, the situation still has to go through the Senate to make the final decision and due to the Senate mostly being made up of Republicans; it's highly unlikely we see Trump removed from office.